Woohoo it's P-day! We were
allowed to send you a letter our first night here but I figured this email
would reach you sooner than the letter. Well to start out, let's just say
Heavenly Father either has a great sense of humor or is chastising me for being
so lazy the past couple of months. Or He has way too much faith in me. Here's
why: My first day here, my host (the sister who showed me around and took me to
my class) told me that my class would be entirely in my language and to not
stress about it, it would be fine. Well when I got into my class, it was all in
English! I talked to my teacher about it and here's the deal. since I already
know Japanese, I'm in the international district/fast track program. Which
means I will be here for 12 days and all of my class will be
in ENGLISH. Trust me, I was in shock. Then I laughed. And then
I freaked out. So basically this means that everything I need to know about the
gospel in Japanese I will be learning on my own. Or by immersion once I get to
Japan...IT'S NUTS. But it's also really cool because we have a very diverse
district and zone. We have people going Chinese, Spanish, French, and English
speaking. Luckily, there are 3 other sisters who are also going to Japan so
we'll practice teaching them.
I'm in a threesome and I was
assigned to be senior companion yesterday. Sister F is from Samoa and is very
cheerful. she will be serving in California. I have a hard time
understanding her so there's a lot of nodding and mhmm-ing. My other companion,
Sister S is from Tokyo and is in the same boat as me. Her Japanese is informal
and doesn't know a lot of church tango. She's hilarious and we get along really
great. She's also going to Sapporo so hopefully we'll be buddies on the flight to
Japan.
The past two days have been
crazy. Once I got over the initial shock of having all of my classes in English
(and recognized that this is how Heavenly Father has planned things),
it got a lot better. I have great teachers and my zone is fun. Every
minute of our day is planned and I'm trying not to waste a minute of it. Since
I'm going to be here for so little time, I want to take advantage of the strong
spirit that is here and learn as much as I possibly can. We met our branch
presidency last night and they seem like wonderful people. Our branch president
was pretty intimidating but I know what he says and does is out of love and his
desire for us to be the best missionaries we can possibly be.
The Mormon rumor mill is at it
once again because most of what I heard about the MTC isn't true. There are
about 2400 missionaries here right now, not 3,000. The lines for food and
bathrooms aren't bad at all. And we only have 3 sisters in our room when
there's room for 4! The food here is typical cafeteria food. It's not terrible,
some of it is even kind of good. But I think that just goes to show that my
standards for food are low haha. I might even actually lose weight while
I'm here since I've been eating salad and a ton of fruit ha. There aren't more
sisters than elders but they did say it's 50/50. Since today is P-day, we got
to go to the temple, which was really great. It was really crowded and it's
incredible to think that it's most likely always that crowded. We only have 30
min to email so if there are typos, oops. We also have time to write letters
today and do laundry. Most of our errands consist of going to the bookstore for
little things so we won't be doing a lot of that.
It's only been 2 ish days but
I've already learned quite a bit about myself. I've always taken for granted
"divide and conquer." Now that I (we) can't do it, it's really
frustrating. Especially when one sister is taking her time. But that's okay,
because it's teaching me patience and more love. I've also learned that I really
like being independent (surprise surprise). Another thing is that I am here to
work. There are a lot of wampaku missionaries who don't seem to take rules
seriously and that bothers me a lot more than I ever thought it would. Being
senior comp makes me want to be the best missionary I can be and set the
example so yes, I'm going to follow every rule. I'm here to do the Lord's work,
why would I waste it being disobedient and deny myself those blessings? I've
also realized that Heavenly Father is very quick to remind me to be humble. Very
quick.
Quick funny story before I wrap
up. Sister S and I were walking side by side and some missionary said hello to
us in Korean haha. Sister S looked back at him and said "What?" I
couldn't stop laughing (don't worry I kept it under control). Another funny
story: there was an elder here a few weeks ago who gained 39 lbs during his
stay here at the MTC. I didn't really believe that that could happen until I
was in the cafeteria and there are quite a few elders with multiple plates and
mounds of food. I will not be gaining any weight here thankyouverymuch.
I've learned so much about the
gospel but mostly, that I've got so much to learn. I love this gospel and the
happiness it brings to people in all walks of life. It's for everyone, whether
they realize it or not. I love it here and although I love you all, I don't
miss being away from home. THIS is where I'm supposed to be and I'm so grateful
to be here. It's an incredible time to be a part of the Lord's work and I'm
humbled that I get to be a part of it as well. I'm happy and well, but very
tired. Thank you for your support! Love you!!
Love,
Sister Sugihara
ps. if you want to send me
letters, use dearelder.com. they print it
off and give it to us the next day, so its way faster than snail mail.
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